Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi featured in film

Calgary International Film Festival movie highlights social media campaign

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi takes questions from reporters after the Friday world premiere of @nenshi4mayor at the Calgary International Film Festival. (Katy Anderson/CBC)

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi can now add one more accomplishment to his resume — movie star.

The "kid from Marlborough" is featured in @nenshi4mayor, a documentary about Nenshi's rise to the mayor's office and his use of social media to engage voters.

"Sitting in the front row and seeing it on a giant screen, I kind of thought a new hairstyle is needed," he said after the world premiere of the film at Calgary's John Dutton Theatre on Friday. The screening was part of the Calgary International Film Festival.

Kidding aside, the Harvard grad and Mount Royal University professor said he thought the film had a universal message.

"It's not really about me, I'm just sort of the face in front of it. It is the story of a community that really starts to understand, not only that they can dream a different future for themselves, but that politics is a way for them to achieve that future."

The film documents how Nenshi went from having the support of just one per cent of Calgarians in a July poll, to capturing 30 per cent of decided voters — tied with Barb Higgins and just three points behind Ric McIvor — in the last poll taken before the municipal election.

His win made him the first Muslim mayor of a major North American city.

Salimah Kassam, a member of the Nenshi campaign's 'Purple Army,' said it was rewarding to see all the drama of the election battle laid out on the silver screen.